PETOSKEY, MI -- The internet is an information superhighway, but it also poses a risk for your personal information to go up for bid.

Federal lawmakers this week introduced a bill that would protect you.

"So much of our business these days is internet-based, and so much of our life is internet based," said Travis Hill, who was in Roast and Toast in Petoskey working on his laptop.

Travis Hill says with his internet-based job, he either stays at home, or hits up a Wi-Fi hotspot for work.  He says he has a strong firewall to protect information on his hard-drive, but he believers he deserves privacy on what he searches.

"I don't need any worms behind there that could go and track me with whatever else I do," said Hill.

Democratic Senator John Kerry is working with Republican Senator John McCain on the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights.  The bill stresses consumer control and regulates how personal data is used and if it can be transferred to a third party.  The bill would also require websites to have their users provide consent before sensitive, personally identifiable information is collected and shared. A local website designer says this law seems fair.

"If people are up-front about what they're going to be collecting and how they're going to be using it, then the users of the websites and online services can be careful and aware of what's going on," said Chuck Scott, the owner and president of Gaslight Media in Petoskey.

"It doesn't bother me if they want information to search information, I don't mind that at all, as long as it's not social security numbers and important numbers like that," admits Diane Gracy.

Lawmakers hope this would be a step forward in online protection. 

Another thing federal lawmakers are looking at is a "do not track" provision to give people the opportunity to stop companies from tracking their online movements.  This is not included in the current bill.

In exchange for the restrictions that would be put on companies if the bill passes, the companies would get several benefits, such as if a company does not abide, they are safe from private lawsuits.

The bill does not intend to intrude on businesses to advertise, market, and recruit new customers.

To read the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights in its entirety, CLICK HERE.